Newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes in an ethnic minority population: clinical presentation and comparison to other populations.

Objective: To characterize the clinical presentation of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes of ethnic minority adults in Chicago and compare with other populations.

Research design and methods: Cross-sectional study examining the data of 2280 patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes treated between 2003 and 2013 in a large Chicago public healthcare system.

Results: Mean age of the patients was 49±11.3 years, men 54.4%, African-Americans 48.1%, Hispanics 32.5%, unemployed 69.9%, uninsured 82.2%, English-speaking 75.1%, and body mass index was 32.8±7.4 kg/m2 . Microvascular complications were present in 50.1% and macrovascular complications in 13.4%. There was a presence of either macrovascular or microvascular complications correlated with older age, hypertension, dyslipidemia, inactivity, speaking English, and being insured (p<0.01). Glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c ) at presentation did not correlate with diabetes complications. In our cohort, when compared with a diverse population in the UK and insured population in the USA, HbA1c at presentation was 10.0% (86 mmol/mol), 6.6% (49 mmol/mol), and 8.2% (66 mmol/mol); nephropathy was 22.2%, 16.7%, and 5.7%; retinopathy was 10.7%, 7.9%, and 1.4%; and neuropathy was 27.7%, and 6.7% in the UK (p<0.001). There were no significant differences between groups in the prevalence of macrovascular complications.

Conclusion: These results show the vulnerability of underserved and underinsured patients for developing diabetes complications possibly related to a delayed diagnosis.